First of all, I'm not much of a rockclimber myself, so maybe other people can correct me, but I would recommend to go to the Homerhut near Milford Road in Fjordland. It's a hut owned by the New Zealand Alpine Club and a great place to spent a few days. From what I understood the crags (Babylon and little Balylon?) near the hut are the best rockclimbing areas of NZ. If you are going to NZ for a few weeks or longer I would reccomend to nbecome a member of the NZAC. They have a number of huts throughout the country, all situated in very nice locations. Have a look at the website (www.alpineclub.org.nz)
You could also get their guidebook on the Darran Mountains area, it's really quite good.
have fun,

Jeroen

Last edited by KNEEP on Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Darrans offer stuff that would make your average Eiger climber's knees tremble. (Try googling up the north-west buttress of Mt Sabre for example). There is some fun rockclimbing around the Homer saddle though - you can pretty much step out of your car and put your hands on rock. - if you don't mind tourist watching you while they wait for the lights to change for the tunnel. At least the rock is not rotten there, which it mostly is in Mt Cook NP.

There is some very accessible rock climbing just north of Wanaka right next to the Mt Aspiring Rd (on your left, you can't really miss it).

Hey I'm gunna be there in February and I was thinking of doing Shark's Tooth Peak near the Rasperry Flat carpark in Aspiring NP. Not exactly a rockclimb though. Mostly 45 degrees or so of slab all the way to the top. If you are interested in a day out with an expat Welshman, send me a PM. I'll be there from 6th to 13th.

I lived in Christchurch for a year prior to moving back to California. The rock climbing in NZ is not nearly as good as what we have here, but if you know where to look, it can be pretty fun. Pick up a copy of this book for the best overall coverage of where to go:
http://www.southislandrock.co.nz/Castle Hill is world class bouldering, mostly on slopers, just outside of Christchurch. It was not much further than an hour, close enough that we went after class a couple of times a week. The crags in the Port Hills around Christchurch are also good, they're where I learned to trad climb.
Didn't make it down to the Darrans for climbing, it was always wet when I went down there. The granite looked great if not covered in moss, etc. due to the incessant precipitation that falls in this area.
There is a cool multi-pitch sport crag just south of Mt. Cook Village, the views north to the Mt. Cook Massif are incredible.
Check out Payne's Ford in the north of the South Island too for sport climbing on steep overhanging routes.
I'd say the best climbing in NZ was the alpine ice, but if that's not what you're looking for I'd check out that book and see what you can see. Feel free to message me if you've got any more questions.

My girlfriend hasn’t done much climbing so we’re not looking for anything too serious, single/multi pitch cragging and bouldering mostly, although long easy routes would be good too.

The Darrans look fantastic, will definitely try and go there, even if it’s just to gawp!

M_dquist – Castle Hill is the one area I’d heard off before posting here; it looks awesome and we’ll definitely be heading there, will consider the other areas too. Thanks for the guidebook tip, I’ll put it on order.

dadndave – thanks for the offer, we don’t have any firm dates yet but if we’re over there at the same time I’d love to meet up. I’ll send you a PM when I know more.